Why Your Girl Scout Cookies May Taste Different Year to Year in New York

It's that time of the year again. Yes, it's the time of year for Lent, baseball spring training, St. Patrick's Day celebrations, Easter, countdown to spring, Daylight Savings Time, etc., but that's not what this is about.

It's that time of the year for Girl Scout cookie sales. You know you look forward to it. I recently interviewed Jaime Alvarez Vice President of Marketing & Communications for the Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways about the 2024 cookie season.

This group covers a huge region -  24 counties throughout Southern, Central, and Northern New York State, along with Tioga and Bradford counties in Pennsylvania.

A lot goes into the process, and it was great to learn the behind-the-scenes of the Girl Scout cookie campaign which began on January 9th and runs through March 31st, 2024.

The Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways offers nine varieties of cookies for the 2024 season - Aventurefuls, Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos, Trefoils, Lemon-ups, Girl Scout S'mores, and Toffee-tastic.

Depending on where you live in the U.S., there may be variations of cookies available. Other areas of the country may sell Lemon-Ups, Caramel Chocolate Chip, and Toast-Yay! cookies.

Why do some cookies look the same but have different names or taste a bit differently?

According to the Girl Scout website:

Each Girl Scout council contracts with one of two licensed bakers, whose recipes and ingredients may differ slightly: ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers. That’s why some of our cookies look the same but have two different names. Whether the package says Peanut Butter Patties® or Tagalongs®, or Samoas® or Caramel deLites®, the cookies are similarly delicious. Contact your local Girl Scout council to find out which Girl Scout Cookies are available in your area.

How Did The Girl Scout Cookie Get Its Start?

According to the Girl Scout website:

Girl Scout Cookies were originally home-baked by girl members with moms volunteering as technical advisers. The sale of cookies to finance troop activities began as early as 1917, five years after Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouts in the United States. The Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project.

For more information and how/where to buy Girl Scout cookies, visit the Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways website.